When it first formed in 1996, IU women’s rugby was a tribe without an identity. Unable to use the name “Hoosiers” due to its status as a club, the group was forced to adopt a different moniker. Thus the Indiana Redstorm was born.
More than 20 years later, the Redstorm is undefeated in its division and ranked sixth in the country, with once-hazy dreams of a championship steadily becoming lucid.
“It’s freaking great,” senior captain Lauren Procter said. “This is exciting.”
Procter was responsible for a pair of tries in IU’s 65-0 dismantling of Ohio State on Sept. 14. She added two more in a 65-0 rout over Purdue a month later. The Redstorm has owned the box score in 2019, but success has not always flowed quite so freely.
“The newbies are used to winning,” senior Tori Eastes said. “The vets like us are not. At all.”
Last season, IU was dealt blowout losses by Penn State and the University of Notre Dame. The 52-10 drubbing in South Bend, Indiana, is a particularly painful memory for Eastes and company.
This year’s rematch with Notre Dame is remembered a bit differently. After 80 minutes and a decisive final whistle, the Hoosiers had toppled the Fighting Irish by a score of 41-31.
“I cried on the field,” Eastes said.
IU had to overcome a 14-point deficit to upset Notre Dame, but the comeback was set in motion long before the opening kick. Recruiting has been a springboard for the recent leap forward.
Though a majority of high schools are yet to offer rugby to students, the Redstorm has a penchant for finding competitors in a variety of shoes, from soccer cleats to ballet slippers. Procter used to play basketball, while Eastes swam and pole vaulted before setting foot on the rugby pitch.
“There’s a position for everybody,” Procter said. “For every body type, every different kind of person.”
This heterogeneous hodgepodge of backgrounds and personalities creates what Eastes said is an atmosphere unlike any she has encountered.
“There’s people screaming at each other on the field and as soon as you get off, whether they’re your opponents and you were cussing them out, everyone’s cool,” she said. “I’ve never seen a sport be able to do that before.”
It is not only the players themselves who recognize the mystique behind their craft. Eastes has worked with the training staff for IU football as part of her major and recalls when other athletes discovered she played rugby. It was not long before they were jokingly bumping into Eastes or inquiring how tough she was.
“They had a different kind of respect for me than they did everyone else in the program,” Eastes said.
Procter said it is common at her workplace to hear warnings of “Watch out for Lauren, she’ll tackle you.”
Both Procter and Eastes said some of their professors have been surprised to learn the university did indeed allow women to play rugby. Not only is the game enjoyed by both men and women globally, but its rules remain unchanged regardless of gender, a rarity among contact sports.
Something that holds constant between rugby and any game, however, is the bond shared by its athletes. Procter said she and her teammates have frequent dinners, and nobody is ever more than a group text away from a companion.
“And I really don’t think that changes when we’re on the field,” Procter said.
In spite of their friendship, the Redstorm’s members know a hallmark of any successful unit is the ability to recognize its flaws. When not immersed in a hectic scrum, junior Emma Fitterling conducts analysis for the team. Part of her role includes addressing subpar performances, such as IU’s 17-10 survival of Michigan on Oct. 27.
“We should have blown them out,” Fitterling said. “It was our last home game, so it was a huge deal for us, and then it was kind of embarrassing that all these people came out to watch and we didn’t play to our best abilities.”
Nevertheless, she said her comrades are unfazed by brutal honesty and that opening their ears to harsh truths has been formative in 2019’s winning streak
Though the Redstorm’s loss column is yet to be inked by a Division I-A opponent, the Air Force Academy awaits Saturday in Columbia, Missouri, pen in hand. In the last three years, the Falcons were crowned fall champions twice.
No matter the outcome, Fitterling said she will view this season as a job well done.
“Watching the program progress over the years, it’s just been cool to watch,” she said. “They’re my little family, and I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of something like this.”
Dethroning Air Force would be a watershed moment for Fitterling’s de facto family. It would also mean overcoming IU’s limitations as a club sport. Scholarships for recruits are out of the question, and access to practice fields has withered with the arrival of colder weather. While varsity athletes board chartered flights, enjoying hotels and meals courtesy of the university, the Redstorm launched a GoFundMe campaign fund its postseason travel expenses. Resources, both in terms of money and manpower, are at a premium.
In lieu of strength and conditioning coaches, much of the team’s workout regimen is Eastes’ own design. When an injury occurs, there is no medical staff poised to burst forth from the sidelines, something a boot-clad Fitterling knows all too well after suffering a sprained ankle.
Staring down a national powerhouse in Air Force while hampered by school policies and injuries might beget a sense of helplessness for some. To the contrary, each woman who dons a Redstorm jersey feels rugby provides a strength that no amount of hardship can enfeeble.
“As a female in what is seen as such a masculine sport, to be honest, it feels powerful,” Eastes said. “Playing rugby makes me feel powerful.”
